Maxine Carr for court on deception charges

Maxine Carr  will appear in court next week, it emerged today.

Maxine Carr  will appear in court next week, it emerged today.

The former teaching assistant and ex-fiancée of Soham murderer Ian Huntley will appear for a plea and directions hearing at Nottingham Crown Court.

Carr, who is serving a three-year jail sentence for conspiring with Huntley to pervert the course of justice, faces seven allegations of deception and five of attempted deception.  The charges relate to claims for housing benefit, income support and jobseeker's allowance and applications for various jobs.

Carr worked as a classroom assistant at St Andrew's Primary School, Soham, Cambridgeshire.   Her boyfriend Huntley, the former caretaker at Soham Village College, was jailed for life at the Old Bailey in December after he was found guilty of murdering 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

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Carr (27), was jailed for three years at the same trial but was cleared of two charges of assisting an offender.  She is listed to appear on Monday morning.

In March, Carr was transferred from north London's notorious Holloway Prison to Foston Hall in rural Derbyshire.

Her move to the "softer" jail was in preparation for her release on licence later this month, the details of which have prompted widespread speculation.

Earlier this week, the Australian government denied the existence of any plan to move Carr to a new life there.  It issued a public statement following speculation that police, prison and probation officials had tried to persuade Carr to leave Britain and adopt a secret identity in Australia.

Carr is known to be against the idea of moving abroad and wants to return to live with her mother in Grimsby.  It is likely that would create a major security headache and would require a continuous police operation to protect her from vigilante attacks.

PA